The Power 5 is no more with the destruction of the Pac-12 conference, RIP to the conference of champions. In this article last year we included Washington State so they are now ineligible for today’s illustrious list. In one of the more amazing stories of the 2023 season, the Northwestern football program went from being our #1 worst power conference team to shaking off the Pat Fitzgerald era and going 8-5 last year. We’re keeping them off the list this year.

A handful of teams who just missed our cut:

Michigan State – A quality hire of Jonathan Smith from Oregon State keeps the Spartans from being in consideration more as they look to move on from the difficult Mel Tucker era.

Cincinnati – The Bearcats more recent success is going to keep them off but their first year in the Big 12 was not good and they are being monitored for the future now. I wonder if Scott Satterfield’s stock is going to plummet soon?

Syracuse – The start of the Fran Brown era and a jolt to recruiting makes Syracuse one of the stronger programs included today.

Arizona State – Long-term I think there’s a lot to like from the Kenny Dillingham signing for the Sun Devils. Year 1 was a struggle though, and they still have work to do digging out from the Herm Edwards debacle.

Baylor – This team won the Sugar Bowl in 2022! They’ve also lost 13 out of their 17 games and Dave Aranda has not been recruiting particularly well. It’s been a weird downturn.

Pittsburgh – A steady Pat Narduzzi program (relatively speaking) and pretty decent recruiting helps things when a program is coming off a 9-loss season.

Houston – Willie Fritz comes over from Tulane and I think Houston will try its best to spend money in the Big 12. Still, this is a program that could quickly remain at the bottom of the food chain among the power teams.

The Power 4 Top 5 Worst Programs for 2024

#5 Boston College
2023 Record: 7-6
2023 FEI Ranking: 79
2024 Composite Ranking: 96
2025 Composite Ranking: 47

Our #3 team on this list last year moves up but not completely out of the top five overall. After 4 seasons the Jeff Hafley era is no more, it peaked early with Zay Flowers grabbing lame duck bombs from First Round Phil, and from there it deteriorated slowly. Seven wins last year isn’t terrible but BC hasn’t even threatened the ACC in a number of years.

With the coaching change, their recruiting bombed as the program transitions to Bill O’Brien who is back as a head coach in college following 8 years in the NFL and a couple seasons as OC at Alabama. He’ll probably spark the offense a little bit but this job continues to be isolated from where college football is headed and I’m not sure a more pro-orientated coach is going to reverse that trend.

#4 Stanford
2023 Record: 3-9
2023 FEI Ranking: 93
2024 Composite Ranking: 31
2025 Composite Ranking: 29

Will joining the ACC help Stanford or hurt them? Does it even matter? We should note that Stanford are recruiting surprisingly well given their recent on-field woes and for that maybe you could remove them from this list. But, I shall not do that.

How many average CFB fans can name this man?

Troy Taylor was a pretty weird hire, if we’re being honest. The team moved up one whole place in the year-end FEI rankings from 2022 although they did win one extra Pac-12 game, including their insane overtime victory over Colorado. This feels like it’s going to be a long downturn period for the Cardinal and the NIL era poses a ton of questions for a place like Stanford now stuck in a conference all the way across the country.

#3 Wake Forest
2023 Record: 4-8
2023 FEI Ranking: 81
2024 Composite Ranking: 52
2025 Composite Ranking: 56

Dave Clawson is probably walking around North Carolina still muttering angry words to himself about losing Sam Hartman. Last year was a big slide backwards for the Demon Deacons and the offense morphed into something quite abysmal. The weird slow mesh offense might not work very well when it’s not led by Hartman, then Wake’s quarterback transferred out this off-season, and they might be really poor on this side of the ball again in 2024.

Obviously, Wake Forest is thoroughly and traditionally mediocre. The recruiting is solid for their level, though. There might be some hope they can rekindle some magic and do some good things in an unimpressive ACC. Yet, if this is another 3 to 5-win season things might start to get pretty dark and the Clawson era (he’s signed through 2026, I believe) could be coming to a close. The program also looks to be struggling as much as any power team with NIL.

#2 Indiana
2023 Record: 3-9
2023 FEI Ranking: 87
2024 Composite Ranking: 65
2025 Composite Ranking: 46

Indiana came in at #5 on our list last year and following the demise of Tom Allen after 8 seasons with the Hoosiers the program has brought in Curt Cignetti from James Madison. Now, Cignetti did have the Dukes cooking (52-9 overall and 31-4 in conference play) and he has a nice resume coming into Bloomington. However, he’s no young buck (just turned 63 last month) and now finds himself squarely in the middle of a newly created Big Ten powerhouse conference.

I will mention, Indiana’s schedule is really, really friendly in 2024 so Cignetti might surprise a lot of people with their record in year one. For real, they might win 7 or 8 games without beating a single top 65 program nationally.

#1 Vanderbilt
2023 Record: 2-10
2023 FEI Ranking: 99
2024 Composite Ranking: 40
2025 Composite Ranking: 69

Our #2 team from last year slides into the top worst spot heading into 2024. Oh, Clark Lea. We know why you went back to your alma mater and it’s alright that you did it. If he sees out the end of his contract extension (signed last summer) he’ll have easily made over $20 million before he even turns 50 years old. It’s tough to argue with that type of money.

Cool polo shirt, though. 

This is a program that beat Florida and Kentucky late in 2022, hence the contract extension. However, the Commodores are on a 10-game losing streak and half of their 2024 schedule is filled with pre-season ranked teams. Lea has been recruiting admirably but in order to survive in the SEC it has to be so much better. The floor continues to be so low and the ceiling maybe capped at 4 or 5 wins with an outside chance at a couple victories in the SEC?

That’s not a good place to be.